Traffic Court at Ofer, 26/03/07, AMObserver and Recorder: Gad N.08:45 – Entered without any problem (written permission was not required). The list of cases that was posted in Courtroom 4 listed 44 suspects, but not the name of the presiding judge.09:15 – The suspects were called into the courtroom. Six people entered. Gabi Romi came in, and did not respond when we greeted him. The translator told us that the name of the judge is Captain Eli Shmueli. Gabi began to summon the accused one after the other. The conversations took place in Arabic, yet we still understood that he was “offering” them plea bargains: Fines of NIS. All of the accused accept the plea bargain, apparently from lack of any other choice. Gabi asks the bailiff to tell the judge to wait until he has finished speaking with every one of them.09:45 – Because of computer malfunction we move to Courtroom 7.10:00 – The judge enters. The proceedings are very short, and are summarized in 90 seconds by the acceptance of the plea bargain. The judge declares for each of the accused “I convict of the crime you have confessed to and I sentence you to the punishment agreed upon.” The translation from Hebrew to Arabic is barely audible.The crimes themselves are particularly technical ones – driving a car with too many passengers, loading too much weight, etc. The judge accepted completely and without hesitation the conditions of Gabi’s plea bargains – fines ranging from NIS and the suspended revocation of drivers’ licenses for two months over two years. In two cases (cases number 2058/07 and 2066/07), the judge rejected the amounts proposed, and instead imposed stricter punishments of 1500 NIS (instead of the 500-750 NIS Gabi requested) due to the accused’s previous convictions.10:45 – The proceedings all ended. Each case took on average 5 minutes. A summary of the proceedings is as follows (the names appear in the report from the court proceedings):Case NumberPenal Code ViolationFine in Plea Bargain (NIS)Fine in Final Conviction (NIS)2058/07 657550015002059/076155 (over weight limit)5005002061/07?5005002063/07?5005002066/07646875015002079/076155 (over weight limit)100010002082/073477 (disobeying traffic sign)75075010:55 – An additional suspect arrived, Muhamed Belal (case number 1819/07) to continue a proceedings that began on 26/02/07. He was accused on 02.12.06 of driving without a drivers’ license and without the correct license for the vehicle being driven. He is a young man, accompanied by his father who owns a garage. They claim that the accused was beginning to learn how to be a car mechanic, and drove the vehicle in order to familiarize himself with its functions. Gabi claims that this is a serious crime that endangers pedestrians on the street. He requests the imposition of a 6000 NIS fine on the accused, and the revocation of driving privileges for 6 months. The accused and his father state that he has learned how to drive, though before getting a license, and that the soldiers had caught him driving on the repair shop lot and had then told the police. The father claims that he does not have the money to pay any fines in addition to what he has already paid (1000 NIS) due to the fact that he is taking care of his sick daughter. It turns out that according to the law and what the judge and Gabi said, it is practically impossible to call soldiers in the army reserves as witnesses. Nevertheless, the judge convicted the accused, and sentenced him to a fine of 1500 NIS, and a suspension of his license for three years. Whereas 1000 NIS had already been paid, the punishment is therefore 500 NIS, which the judge agrees to allow them to pay in the three monthly installments.11:15 – Attorney Yael Barda arrived, in order to represent Ibrahim Awarin (telephone number:). He is accused of entering a street without having had a wide enough field of vision. After a consultation, Gabi and Yael reached a plea bargain, wherein the accused would pay a fine of 500 NIS (instead of the original 1000 NIS demanded) and a suspended sentence of one month’s revocation of license for one year. This was agreed upon in light of a technical problem in the evidence for the case (because of the topographic details) and the absence of any driving violations over the past 13 months, even though the accused is often employed as a driver for a driving service. The police officer who had been called to testify was sent away, and the judge accepted the plea bargain, over the objection of Yael. The judge ordered that 500 NIS out of the 1000 NIS already paid be returned to the accused, and Yael saw to the details.11:30 – We left just as a number of suspects arrived from plea bargain proceedings.